EU telecoms holding Google to ransom

Google's European woes just never seem to end. In the latest turn of events, European telecom operators are thinking of installing ad blocking software on their servers to force Google and others to give them a share of the spoils earned through mobile advertising.

An employee to one of the European carriers told The Financial Times that the plan was to install this software before the end of this year. If that happens, most ads would no longer appear on websites and apps of users who go online through smartphones and tablets.

A number of telecom operators are considering this move, as well as the move called “the bomb”. If they drop “the bomb”, the ad-blocking software would be applied across entire network of millions of smartphone users in one go with Google seen as a specific target.

What they’re basically doing is holding mobile ads as hostages and asking for ransom – Google, Yahoo, AOL and the likes should start thinking about sharing the revenue from mobile ads with the telecom operators providing the infrastructure.

Knowing Google, I wouldn’t be too surprised if they made their own telecom, instead.

Google thinks the carriers are wrong, as they’re already charging people to access Internet via mobile devices: "People pay for mobile internet packages so they can access the apps, video streaming, webmail and other services they love, many of which are funded by ads. Google and other web companies invest heavily in developing these services — and in the behind-the-scenes infrastructure to deliver them."